Cuphead & The Delicious Last Course: Complete Guide

A guide to Cuphead and its DLC, The Delicious Last Course: controls, parrying, weapon and charm loadouts, a boss-by-isle roadmap, Ms. Chalice, secrets, grades, and tips for Expert mode.

Researched September 2026 — current as of patch 1.3.4 (August 2022), the latest Cuphead update. The game and DLC are feature-complete; check the linked sources if something differs.

Quick Start

Learn to parry. Anything pink can be parried by jumping into it and pressing jump again. Parries fill your super meter and are required for A+ and S grades.
Buy the Spread or Chaser early. Porkrind's Emporium sells weapons for 4 coins and charms for 3 to 5. Spread melts bosses up close. Chaser auto-aims so you can focus on dodging.
Equip the Smoke Bomb or Heart charm while learning. Smoke Bomb makes your dash invincible. Heart gives +1 HP at a small damage cost.
Don't play Simple mode if you want to progress. Simple difficulty won't give you the boss's Soul Contract, so you can't advance the story with it.
Death is learning. The progress bar on the death screen shows how close you were. Each attempt teaches a pattern.
Collect coins in Run 'n Gun levels. Each has five coins. Coins buy everything.
Visit the Mausoleums. They teach parrying and give you Super Arts. Clearing one also frees the Legendary Chalice, which leads to the DLC.
Swap loadouts from the retry screen. Since patch 1.3.2 you can change weapons from the "Retry" screen instead of walking back to the map.
Play co-op if you can. Two players split attention. Revive your partner by parrying their ghost.

Controls and Core Mechanics

Action	What it does
Shoot	Fire your equipped weapon
Lock	Stand still and aim in 8 directions
Jump	Jump. Press again when touching something pink to parry
Dash	Quick horizontal dash. Invincible with the Smoke Bomb charm
EX shot	Uses one super meter card for a stronger shot
Super Art	Spends a full five-card meter
Switch weapon	Swap between your two equipped weapons

The super meter

Your meter has five cards. Dealing damage and parrying fill it.

EX moves use one card: a stronger version of your current weapon's shot.
Super Arts use all five cards and must be unlocked in the Mausoleums.

Parrying

Parry pink objects mid-air by pressing jump again as you touch them.
Each parry fills a full card.
Some bosses have pink projectiles that are safer to parry than dodge.
P. Sugar charm auto-parries the first pink object you touch per jump (handy for parry-heavy fights like King's Leap).

Weapons

Weapon	Price	Best for
Peashooter	Starting weapon	All-round, decent range
Spread	4 coins	Huge damage up close, weak at range
Chaser	4 coins	Homing shots. Low damage, great for learning and plane-like chaos
Roundabout	4 coins	Shoots forward then boomerangs back. Useful for enemies behind you
Lobber	4 coins	Arcing bouncy shots, strong damage, awkward aim
Charge	4 coins	Big charged shots. Excellent damage if you can time it
Crackshot (DLC)	4 coins	Straight shot that breaks into weaker aimed projectiles
Converge (DLC)	4 coins	Full-screen piercing three-way shot. Hold lock to narrow the spread
Twist-Up (DLC)	4 coins	Rapid-fire shots on an arced path, average damage

Beginner combo: Spread + Chaser. Use Spread when you can get close, and Chaser when you need to focus on dodging.

Charms

Charm	Price	Effect
Heart	3 coins	+1 HP, slightly lower damage
Smoke Bomb	3 coins	Invisible, invincible dash
P. Sugar	3 coins	Auto-parry the first pink object each jump
Coffee	3 coins	Slowly builds super meter over time
Twin Heart	5 coins	+2 HP, lower damage
Whetstone	3 coins	Parry with a melee axe swing instead of a jump
Heart Ring (DLC)	3 coins	Gain extra HP from your first parries
Broken Relic (DLC)	1 coin	Starts the Divine Relic quest (secret boss)
Astral Cookie (DLC)	Given in the DLC	Play as Ms. Chalice

New charms unlock in Porkrind's shop as you buy earlier ones, so check back after each purchase. With the DLC installed, the DLC items show up earlier in the order.

Super Arts

Clear each Mausoleum to unlock one Super Art:

Super Art	Effect
Energy Beam	A huge beam of damage
Invincibility	A few seconds of invulnerability
Giant Ghost	A ghost that deals heavy damage

Energy Beam is the best damage option. Invincibility is great for getting through hard patterns.

Boss Roadmap by Isle

Inkwell Isle One

Boss / Level	Type
The Root Pack	Boss
Goopy Le Grande	Boss
Hilda Berg	Plane
Cagney Carnation	Boss
Ribby and Croaks	Boss
Forest Follies, Treetop Trouble	Run 'n Gun
Mausoleum I	Parry challenge

Tip: The Root Pack and Goopy Le Grande are the gentlest intros. Cagney Carnation's final phase is where most new players hit their first wall.

Inkwell Isle Two

Boss / Level	Type
Baroness Von Bon Bon	Boss
Djimmi the Great	Plane
Beppi the Clown	Boss
Wally Warbles	Plane
Grim Matchstick	Boss
Funhouse Frazzle, Funfair Fever	Run 'n Gun
Mausoleum II	Parry challenge

Tip: Grim Matchstick is a difficulty spike. Chaser helps with the fireballs.

Inkwell Isle Three

Boss / Level	Type
Sally Stageplay	Boss
Werner Werman	Boss
Captain Brineybeard	Boss
Rumor Honeybottoms	Boss
Cala Maria	Plane
Dr. Kahl's Robot	Plane
Phantom Express	Boss
Perilous Piers, Rugged Ridge	Run 'n Gun
Mausoleum III	Parry challenge

Tip: Dr. Kahl's Robot and Phantom Express are among the hardest in the base game.

Inkwell Hell

King Dice — a board-game gauntlet. Each roll sends you to a mini-boss (such as Tipsy Troop, Chips Bettigan, Mr. Wheezy, Pip and Dot, Hopus Pocus, Phear Lap, Pirouletta, Mangosteen, and Mr. Chimes) before you reach King Dice himself. Parry the dice to control your roll.
The Devil — the final boss. Two long phases. Bring your best loadout.

You need the Soul Contracts from the earlier bosses to open the path to the final confrontation.

Plane levels

In plane levels you pilot a small plane:

Shrink to dodge and pass through gaps (lower damage while shrunk).
Switch weapons to swap between the plane's gun and its bombs.
Your ground loadout doesn't apply. Plane fights use their own shots, EX, and super.
Parry by pressing jump when touching pink objects.

The Delicious Last Course (DLC)

Released June 30, 2022. It adds Inkwell Isle Four, a new playable character (Ms. Chalice), new weapons and charms, and some of the game's hardest bosses.

How to access it

Free the Legendary Chalice from one of the base game's Mausoleums, then follow the summons to the new island.

Ms. Chalice

Equip the Astral Cookie charm to play as Ms. Chalice. She has:

+1 extra HP
Double jump
Invincible roll (ground dash)
Dash parry — dash into pink objects to parry them
Her own Super Arts

Ms. Chalice is much easier for most fights. Many players use her for the DLC and to beat base-game bosses they're stuck on.

Inkwell Isle Four bosses

Boss	Type
Glumstone the Giant	Boss
Moonshine Mob	Plane
Mortimer Freeze	Boss
Esther Winchester	Boss
The Howling Aces	Plane
Chef Saltbaker	Final boss

King's Leap

Five parry-focused chess piece fights: The Pawns, The Knight, The Bishop, The Rook, and The Queen. You can't shoot. Damage comes from parrying. P. Sugar and Ms. Chalice's dash parry help a lot.

Secret boss: Angel and Demon

Buy the Broken Relic charm (1 coin). Equipping it starts the Divine Relic quest. Solve the gravestone puzzle on Isle Four to fight Angel and Demon. Look up the puzzle clues in a walkthrough, or experiment with the graves on the isle.

Grades

Each boss gives a grade from D to S based on:

Time
HP remaining
Parries
Super meter use
Difficulty

A+ needs a good time, full or near-full HP, three parries, and super meter use. S rank requires Expert difficulty.

Difficulty Modes

Mode	Notes
Simple	Easier patterns. No Soul Contract, so it can't finish the game
Regular	Standard. Required for story progress
Expert	Unlocked after beating the game. Faster, harder patterns. Required for S ranks

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Beating bosses on Simple and expecting to progress. You need Regular.
Ignoring parries. They're free super meter.
Sticking with the Peashooter. Spread and Charge do far more damage in the right fights.
Forgetting the Smoke Bomb. Invincible dashes save runs.
Dying the same way repeatedly. Watch what killed you and plan for that phase.
Skipping Run 'n Gun levels. They're where most coins come from.
Not using Ms. Chalice. Her extra HP and double jump make hard fights easier.

Advanced Tips

Spread + Smoke Bomb is a top damage setup for skilled players who can stay close.
Charge has excellent damage per second if you learn to hold and release on time.
Lock aim (stand still and aim diagonally) to hit bosses from safe positions.
Use EX moves when a boss enters a vulnerable pattern.
Save Supers for a boss's final phase.
In co-op, one player focuses on damage and the other on survival and revives.
Pacifist runs of Run 'n Gun levels (no enemies killed) are a separate challenge and give special grades.
Use the title screen toggle (patch 1.3.4) in Options > Visuals if you prefer the original title screen and song.

FAQ

How do I unlock The Delicious Last Course? Buy the DLC, then free the Legendary Chalice from a Mausoleum in the base game. You'll be summoned to Inkwell Isle Four.

Do I need to beat the whole base game for the DLC? No. Freeing the Legendary Chalice from a Mausoleum is the key step.

What's the best weapon in Cuphead? It depends on the fight. Spread for close damage, Charge for timed burst, Chaser for safety, and Lobber for arcing damage.

How do I get an S rank? Beat a boss on Expert with a fast time, no damage taken, and full parry and super use.

Who is the secret boss in the DLC? Angel and Demon, unlocked through the Broken Relic / Divine Relic quest.

Can I play as Mugman solo? Yes. Since the 1.2 update (2019) you can pick Mugman in single player.

Is Cuphead still updated? The last patch was 1.3.4 in August 2022. The game is considered finished.

Sources

Cuphead on Steam
Cuphead Steam news — patches 1.2, 1.3.2, 1.3.3, 1.3.4
Cuphead Wiki (wiki.gg) — main page
Cuphead Wiki — Porkrind's Emporium (prices)
Cuphead Wiki — The Delicious Last Course
Cuphead on Wikipedia